Podokesauridae (RE: tiny-armed theropods)

["Thomas R. Holtz, Jr." <tholtz@umd.edu>]

> From: owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu [mailto:owner-DINOSAUR@usc.edu] 
> On Behalf Of Matthew Martyniuk
>
> It's worth remembering that our current "stable" names became 
> that way after unseating previously stable names, sometimes a 
> matter of a decade or two ago (anybody remember 
> Podokesauridae, which was supplanted by Coelophysidae in the 
> early 1990s for no discernible reason)?

Given that I and Greg Paul and a few others are largely responsible for that, 
here is the reason:

What positive evidence is there that Podokesaurus is in any way, shape, or form 
more closely related to Coelophysis & company than
to (for example) tetanurines? Or basal to neotheropods?

The characters originally used to unite Podokesaurus, Coelophysis, "Syntarsus" 
& friends was: little theropod that lived before the
Middle Jurassic. Not really a strong case for monophyly there...

Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
Email: tholtz@umd.edu   Phone: 301-405-4084
Office: Centreville 1216                        
Senior Lecturer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Dept. of Geology, University of Maryland
http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtz/
Fax: 301-314-9661               

Faculty Director, Science & Global Change Program, College Park Scholars
http://www.geol.umd.edu/sgc
Fax: 301-314-9843

Mailing Address:        Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.
                        Department of Geology
                        Building 237, Room 1117
                        University of Maryland
                        College Park, MD 20742 USA